Nothing wrong with refusing to voteOn Nov. 6, when my turn...

the Forum

November 13, 1990

Nothing wrong with refusing to vote

On Nov. 6, when my turn came to vote, I secluded myself in the booth and pulled down most of the levers. Some I left alone; they were nothing to me. But so were many of those choices which I made. Why did I go at all?

There is surely no great virtue in voting not anymore anyway. I have no religious impulse to vote, and I do not regard it to be a duty. I am not foolish enough to think that the success of the candidates I chose will make any significant difference in fashioning a more just and humane society. They are pretty much all alike. Anyway the power to make public policy does not reside in the formal groups of our governments.

Those, whoever they are, seem to possess little or no vision for the future. In all the verbiage about how good, great and powerful we are I perceive no sense of destiny.

So why did I vote? I was not happier or satisfied as I walked away to my car. There was none of the glow that I remember in 1948 when first I cast a ballot.

I guess I voted out of habit, dulled now with little expectation. Yet I had a bit of satisfied conscience; I voted for the opponents of a couple of incumbents who had proved to my satisfaction that they had failed the test of acting for the best interests of human beings and the natural environment. However, those I voted for may flunk, too. Perhaps I should not have voted at all; such would have been a moral course.

Sherman Roddy

Woodstock

Keep fighting

In reading the letter (Nov. 3) about the idea of mainstreaming special education students into regular schools, I agree with Cathy and Charles Kozlowski.

I think it is about time the parents do something about it. I do not have any children at Ridge or Ruxton schools now, but I can tell you plenty about sending special children to good schools like Ridge, since my grandson went there until he was 21 years old. He had excellent care and love. He went to a regular school first, but he and his two sisters were very unhappy with the way other children treated them. He had muscular dystrophy and had he not gone to Ridge School, I don't believe he would have lived to be 21.

I also had a brother with muscular dystrophy who had to go to a regular school but he hated the treatment he got. He forgot how to cope with both the disease and the school, and he gave up. My grandson was a brilliant, happy young man when he died at age 21. We are very dedicated to everyone at Ridge School and would like to tell the Kozlowski family to keep fighting.

Laura Suter

Edgewood

Go solar

This past summer, solar-powered cars constructed by college students raced 1,641 miles from Florida to Detroit. The first three finishers will participate in a 2,000-mile race in Australia this month. This race raises the question of whether the country should conduct similar experiments on alternative fuels for automobiles. With growing international and environmental problems, the experiments could lead to solutions to both problems.

Solar-powered cars have one drawback; they cost between $300,000 and $400,000. But the advantages of the alternative fuels can outweigh the costs. With solar-powered vehicles, the reliance on current fuels is greatly reduced, and the need to import oil from foreign nations becomes less important. In the long run, the net amount spent on automobiles and fuel could be reduced.

The solar-powered cars also produce almost no pollution. They burn no gasoline, so there is no carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide given off in the exhaust. The change from a world powered by gasoline to a world powered by solar power is not an easy one. The first step is to conduct experiments to judge the value of solar-powered cars and to reduce their cost, which will make the change less difficult.

artin A. Braun

Severna Park

How about a bonus?

It has come to my attention that the state of Maryland has never paid the World War II state bonus, let alone the Korean War or the Vietnam War. Every state except Maryland has paid a World War II state bonus, and quite a few have paid a Korean War bonus. Now Kentucky is contemplating paying the Vietnam state bonus.

It is alleged that the sales tax was started so that a portion of the tax could be used for the World War II veterans' state bonus. What happened? Where are the funds?

Aw, come now, Maryland. Join these United States for the veterans' bonus and be counted like all the other states.

oseph Pipitone

The writer is a World War II veteran.

Dangerous policy

According to your newspaper, President Bush says he is running out of peaceful solutions to the Iraqi problem. This is frightening. What makes Bush think we have to be there?

Even more frightening is that so few in Congress is questioning Bush. Why aren't we Americans being told the truth? Who is controlling the entire U.S. government when we have to go blindly into war?

Does Bush hold interests in Texas oil that are being affected by Iraq's actions?

I firmly believe Bush's action to endanger American lives is treasonous, and that he should be charged with treason and punished for it. Something is very wrong, and we had best all wake up before a possible nuclear wipeout takes place.